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Reader question: Please explain “low-hanging this headline: “U.S. economy has run out of ‘low-hanging fruit’: Economist”. My comments: This is an economist being quoted as saying that the US economy has run out of easy solutions. In other words, there are no more quick fixes. At any rate, that’s what the economist means by “low-hanging fruit”. Low-hanging fruit, you see, refer to apples, pears, oranges or any other such fruit that hang on the lowest branches of the trees. The low-hanging fruit are, needless to say, the easiest and pick. Some of them are probably within reach, i.e. you can reach out your hand and take them without having to stand on tiptoe to do it or having to jump up. Or to use a step ladder. Nor do you have to climb up the tree, let alone going out on a limb. Going out on a limb? Yeah, that’s another American idiom descriptive of the situation where one has to clime high up a far reaching branch (limb) in order to grab the fruit. The far out branch may be thin and, as a result, dangerous – one risks falling off the tree in consequence. Hence and therefore it is no accident that whether in apple gathering or problem solving, people go after the low-hanging fruit first. In other words, they aim for the easiest targets, getting the easiest jobs done before taking on tougher tasks. | 
